Of the 702 games played in the NHL through Thursday, 323 have been decided by one goal, including 159 that went to overtime, with 95 of those progressing to shootouts.

For comparison’s sake, 46 percent of NHL games have been decided by one goal this season, while 28.7 percent of Major League Baseball games in 2012 were decided by one run. In hockey in 2013, a standard 60 minutes has not been enough time to determine a victor 22.6 percent of the time, while 7.9 percent of MLB games last season went to extras. That does not even match the rate of NHL games that go to a shootout—13.5 percent.

Corey Crawford's Blackhawks have been good in one-goal games, but there's more to success than that. (AP Photo)

The point is not that the NHL is the place for drama, although it certainly is that. The point is that for as unpredictable as baseball is—and you can ask any New York Yankees fan how often they’ve heard John Sterling say on the radio, “Ya know, Suzyn, you just can’t predict baseball!”—almost half the games in the NHL would have different results if two pucks bounced differently.

If you remove one-goal games from the equation, you get a clear picture of who the truly elite—and truly awful—teams are. There are nine teams playing at a .550 or better clip in games decided by more than one goal: Chicago (16-3), Boston (15-6), Pittsburgh (22-10), Montreal (16-8), Ottawa (13-7), Anaheim (16-9), Los Angeles (16-11), Detroit (13-10), and Washington (14-11). If the Red Wings’ presence on that list is a surprise considering that they're still fighting for a playoff spot, consider last year’s Kings, who were 17-14-15 in one-goal games, but had a .639 winning percentage in games decided by more, going 23-13.

At the other end of the spectrum, nine teams have lost at least 60 percent of the games they have played with margins of more than a goal: Florida (7-21), Colorado (7-18), Nashville (9-15), Edmonton (11-18), Calgary (11-18), Carolina (13-21), Winnipeg (11-17), Philadelphia (12-18), and Buffalo (8-12). The Jets being part of this group, even though they were only eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday night, shows that the general feeling at the start of the season (that the Jets were bad) may have been spot on. Winnipeg was 13-4-3 in one-goal games, fourth-best in the league. The team that was fourth-best in the league in one-goal games last season was the New York Rangers, at 21-5-7. Since success in one-goal games is not a repeatable skill, the Blueshirts slipped back to the pack in 2013, with a .500 record in games decided by more than a goal putting them right where they belong heading into the NHL playoffs, with a spot clinched but a low seed.

FIRST CLASS

Teams that score the first goal of a game are 492-136-71 this season, and the player who has scored the most game-opening goals is Sporting News All-Cap Team member Chris Stewart, who has done it eight times. Stewart's St. Louis Blues won all eight of those games, and are 13-1-1 when he scores a goal. The shootout loss was Feb. 9, when Stewart scored a key goal late—his power-play tally with 4:34 left in the third period earned St. Louis a point against the Anaheim Ducks.

P-ZONE

Among players who have logged at least 400 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time this season, there are 10 with Corsi rate of 60 percent or higher—the number of their team’s shot attempts (goals, shots saved, shots blocked, shots missed) while they are on the ice, compared to the opposition. Only one has started as many as 30 percent of his shifts in the defensive zone, which should not come as much of a surprise because starting shifts in the defensive zone means that if the opposition wins a faceoff, they probably will get a shot on net, and thus damage your Corsi rate.

Then there’s Patrice Bergeron, who starts 30 percent of his shifts in his own zone and then some. The Boston center has a defensive zone start rate of 39.3 percent, but is on the ice for 23.8 Bruins shot attempts at 5-on-5 per 20 minutes, compared to just 15.1 opposition shot attempts, according to stats.hockeyanalysis.com.

One reason that Bergeron, the reigning Selke Trophy winner, has been able to put up such numbers is his work in the faceoff circle. Bergeron has a 519-320 record on faceoffs for a league-leading 61.8 percent success rate. He is just as good when it has nothing to do with Corsi stats, going 70-44 (61.4 percent) on faceoffs while shorthanded. Only Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk has a better success rate on shorthanded draws, at 62.7 percent (74-44).

REIM’S THE REASON

The Toronto Maple Leafs had the third-worst penalty kill in the NHL last season, and have the third-best shorthanded unit this season. Considering that Toronto’s most heavily-used defensemen on the kill this season are the same two as last season—Dion Phaneuf and Carl Gunnarsson—such a turnaround is a surprise, to say the least, even if Jay McClement has tuned into one of the NHL’s top penalty-killing forwards.

James Reimer has been simply superhuman in proving the old adage that sometimes your goalie has to be your best penalty killer. When Toronto is shorthanded, Reimer has posted a .917 save percentage—better than the even-strength figures posted this season by such luminaries as Niklas Backstrom, Jaroslav Halak, and Jonathan Quick.

Reimer’s performance is worth keeping in mind if the Maple Leafs wind up playing the Canadiens in the playoffs. Montreal’s Carey Price has the league’s worst save percentage as a penalty-killing goalie, at .804, compared with his .920 save percentage at even strength.